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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-21-81 CCMLAKE ELMO SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING, AUGUST 21, 1981 Mayor Eder convened the meeting at 9:25 a.m. PRESENT: Fraser, Morgan, Mottaz, Novak; Administrator Whittaker and Accountant II Banister was also present. ABSENT: None CLEAN-UP DAYS: The City Council agreed that the City must charge a user fee for all future clean-up days; and that a second clean- up day should be held in October, 1981. Fees will be based, initially, on fees charged by other communities; then, it will be based on actual costs per user after the Fall clean-up. Non- residents will be discouraged; and, they will be charged double fees if they participate anyway. The Council decided that community groups, which provide a pick- up service for residents who cannot bring their own refuse to the clean-up site, should have a separate access and should not be' charged, YOUTH SERVICE BUREAU: The Council indicated that Lake Elmo will no longer support the Youth Service Bureaus, as they are human services which should be supported, evaluated and controlled by Washington County. The Council supported a recommendation by the City Administrator to seek the support of other communities in getting County Board approval of this position. CIVIL DEFENSE: The Council agreed to a $500 budget for Civil Defense in 1982. NEWSLETTER: After considerable discussion, the Council agreed to budget '$6,000 for the Newsletter for 1982. PLANNING: The Council agreed to budget $4,000 for Highway planning, especially in critical areas such as the County Road 13 alignment, the area between Legion Avenue and Lake Elmo Avenue, and the area around Ideal, First Street and Immanual. Other areas where oppor- tunities to provide access are limited may also be studied. The Council agreed that the City does not need a budget for Surface water planning at this time; and decided to leave the balance from flood assessments in the undesignated General Fund reserves for now. FIRE INSPECTION: The Council budgeted $300 for additional training of the Building Inspector (or a Fireman) for fire prevention inspections. It will appear under training in the inspections budget. BUILDING INSPECTION FEES: The Council agreed present.fees are adequate to finance the department. ANIMAL CONTROL: The Council expressed concern about the rising cost of animal control. In order to better control and finance this program, the Council agreed to: 1. Encourage the Animal Control Officer to write more tickets; 2. Attach a penalty to license fees for dogs found to be at - large without a license; 3, Certify unpaid impoundment charges for collection with property taxes, where the owner of an at -large dog is known; LAKE ELMO SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES, AUGUST 21, 1981 page 2 4. Increase impoundment fees so that they more nearly cover the costs of impoundment. GRADER/GRADING: The Council discussed.the need fora.new grader, the options the City might have to owning a grader (i.e. leasing, contracting with the County or another City, buying a used grader from Mahtomedi, buying another truck for snowplowing, pricing snow plowing contracts with others). They instructed the City Administrator to explore all of these options before making a recommendation on the purchase of a new grader in 1982. PARK MAINTENANCE: Morgan expressed concern that the budget reflected an inordinate amount of personnel time under park maintenance. Whittaker and Banister indicated that the time assigned to parks was taken from the time cards; and included wages for two temporary employees for the summer of 1982, as the City has no assurance that the County will provide them at no cost as has been done for several years. Morgan indicated he would like the new Foreman/Superintendent to watch the time cards more closely. COUNCIL SALARIES: Fraser said Council salaries should reflect cost of living increases since they were last raised. The Council felt the salaries should remain the same. FIRE DEPARTMENT TRAINING: After some discussion, the Council asked *amended the Fire Department to provide a "training program" explaining 9/1/81 t-ie--ve-r--o s- raq 3 g-ems--HrcmEn-ato �entl;-and - }e13as1 how best to meet department needs through training. The Council felt, perhaps, that more training dollars should be spent on training for the whole department; and leas money should be spent on conferences for two or three. firemen. LEVY/MIL RATE: The Council instructed Whittaker and Banister to ; prepare an estimate of the impact of the budget on the mil rate and actual dollars each resident would pay through property taxes for the next budgetmeeting. ADMINISTRATOR'S COMPENSATION: The Council agreed with the Admin- istrator's request for an 8 percent increase in total compensation if other employees get 8 percent; and a 9 percent increase in total compensation if other employees receive 9 percent. The 9 percent package would be distributed as follows: $30,443 salary 984 Health insurance 600 expenses 1,000 ICMA Annual Conference Final determination of compensation for all employees, for 1982, will be made once pay settlements for other area communities are known. FEDERAL REVENUE SHARING: The Council agreed that 1981 and 1982 Federal Revenue Sharing Funds should be used to offset costs of the contract for police service with Washington County, subject to review at the public hearing on September 15, 1981. An equal amount of General Fund revenues will be appropriated to Office improvements in 1981 and towards the Levy offset reserve i.n 1982. LAKE ELMO SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES, AUGUST 21, 1981 page 3 ENGINEERING, TABLYN PARK: M/S/P. Mottaz and Morgan. To approve up to $1,500 for the Engineering of the driveway, and parking area in Tablyn Park, including surveying, plans and specs., and inspection services. OFFICE IMPROVEMENTS: Mayor Eder expressed his desire to complete the study of alternatives on the present office/fire hall site before considering any other alternatives. In dis:;ussion, the Council agreed that this study should include the alterna- tive of adding Council Chambers to the present office building, along with the previous questions of adding onto the fire hall, remodeling the present office building, and tearing down the present building for a new office building. M/S/P Morgan and Novak. To authorize up to $1,200 for Sessing Architects Inc. to study the feasibility, cost, and practicability of:, 1. Adding City Offices onto the Fire Hall; 2. Remodeling the present office building (including garage) for office use only; 3. Remodeling the present office building (including garage) for office use and adding a Council Chamber.; and, 4. Tearing down the present office building for construction of a new office building with or without Council Chambers. The architect is to be particularly concerned about the site plan; adequacy of parking for the office, Council and Fire Department functions; the advantage of using the present building vs., new construction. Mottaz and Fraser voted against the motion. ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 11:35 a.m.